Dinner After A Movie

Where do you get a quality meal in Missoula when it's getting late?

After a movie last night it was late enough (9:30-ish) that we speculated if someplace good would be open for us to get dinner.  It was a Monday night, and like Sunday nights, for some reason a number of independent restaurants are often closed.  (Some have told me why but I can never accept whatever it is enough to remember the reason/s.  Small town vs. Big City? A person eats in both cases.  And shouldn't settle for fast food, either.  I think it's me; not them.  I have always preferred dining out late any day of the week.) Anyway...

Luckily one of our favorites, The Red Bird Wine Bar, was still serving.  Because it is located in the back of the lobby of the historic Florence Hotel building, you get a rich entrance to a friendly dining spot.  (The 1941 lobby still has three old school phone booths with rounded pocket doors by the restrooms, plus a gorgeous clam shell water fountain.) The owners and staff are generally congenial and also interesting characters to strike up conversations with once you become regulars like we have.

The Wine Bar has been running monthly tastes of different countries and December is Germany so they've had great pretzels - just the right amount of crunchy crust to chewy middle - and I usually get one to go with my dinner.  Last night I had so much popcorn at the movie that we opted for the pork sandwich and seared tuna salad sans pretzel.  (I also love the burgers served with grilled onions and the Italian sandwich, by the way.)

Last night, they had live music.  (I forgot to ask the soloist's name - my deepest apologies, I  think it's important to give artists credit  - but he was in the realm of Loudon Wainwright.)  An ideal cozy atmosphere on a cold winter night, we perched at the stylish bar and discussed the flaws and merits of the film.

So, cheers to The Red Bird!

An App For That

I helped make an iPhone app this winter for The Book of Answers.  It has put me on a real high.

The entire process has been a fun surprise.  The author, Carol Bolt, has been a dream as a collaborator.  I have known her for many years and way back when we first met, we simply connected.  We met through the auspices of MFA graduate school - she was on her way out with graduation and I was on my way in with application.  We had a single phone conversation that sealed the friendship.  It wasn't confessional or cathartic or anything, but it did it.  Our studies didn't overlap and neither did our lives.  I moved several hundred miles away. Many years passed.  Even so, we overlapped somewhere in our parallel lives, in our hearts and heads, as friends.

I'm not sure what causes the doppelganger effect with Carol. I suspect it's our shared appreciation for earthly delights, affinity for materials, and ability to laugh through the bigs and smalls of things. We are also just the right amount of different too, keeping a balance.

And of course, in working on the App Bruce spices up the whole collaboration with heaping scoops of dreamy and pinches of grounding, depending on what the moment needs.  I could go on and on about it, I am so tickled by the whole thing.

No doubt, for a long time, I'll ride this high.

Crafty Town

Well, it's akin to funky town, I guess.  A lot of handiwork spreading around here.  We popped into a great little fundraiser for the Lowell School PTA to shop crafts.  They had live music and clever handmade goods from salsa to inner-tube wallets.  We picked up a (406) Tshirt from Zoo City Apparel as a gift.

Getting it together

I discovered an artist blog and website with materials and methods posts as well as opportunity listings.  It's called Studio Chroma.  My favorite part of it is the calendar, though.  Seeing the shape of time between right now and my selected deadline is very helpful.  Like stepping stones, I guess.  I'm going to use it to better organize.

Hip Mama Talks about The Blind Side

Hip Mama reacts to the movie The Blind SIde.  This writer, LRC, always has an insightful take on where art and culture meet (or miss, depending on the case).  I'm especially moved by her third 'take away' from this film.  A girl after my heart.... (sigh.)  But seriously, her notes on the audience gender divide is also interesting.  Hollywood has long maintained that women don't go to the movies, but I wonder how outdated their stats are.  And finally, in a season overflowing with religious flag-waving, LRC is keeping it real and good with her observations.  Now, I want to see the movie, too.

Byrne on Arts Funding

David Byrne (on his website) shares his thoughtful comments on funding in the arts, suggests that we as a culture, rethink it all. Start paying more attention to the living. Here, here! Go David.

Pink Ladies

It's Saturday morning and I'm missing the summer farmer's market. Missoula's market scene has grown since I moved here, enough to accommodate two exceptional markets. When in season, a Saturday bike trip downtown offers fresh local fruits, vegetables, plants, cut flowers, meat, dairy and specialty prepared foods like cannoli and empanadas. I'm so glad the apples last well after the market is done for the season. The stock is getting low, though. I ate the last of the Pink Ladies in this photo a few weeks ago. Almost unassuming little baubles when whole but after slicing, they are real gems. Now I am on to finishing the Liberties.

Abundance

Mom and Dad send me fruit from Indiana every year. They pick pears from the trees on our property behind the dealership, wrap them up and drop them in a box. The packing job is usually so sketch I am scared to open the box but amazingly the fruit (mostly) makes it beautifully. Their good intentions must will the fruit to hold up till they get to me. This year's crop was superb. And Bruce turned them into an amazing tart. Proving once again that it is all in the quality of ingredients. We've been cooking a lot. I think it's because we love the new kitchen.